Communication management system, communication management terminal device, communication management method and communication management program

ABSTRACT

Communication from inadmissible communication parties and communication accesses are excluded from an unspecified number of communication parties and communication accesses. A communication management system is provided with a communication device for communicating with communication parties connected through a communication network, a communication control device for controlling the communication, a communication history information memory device for storing communication history information indicative of communication history of the communication device, and a communication admissible party selecting device for selecting communication admissible parties who are admitted to communication with the communication device in accordance with the communication history information, wherein the communication control device has a communication admission control function to carry out admission control of communication from the selected communication parties.

This application is a Divisional application of U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 12/668,573 which is National Stage Entry of PCT/JP2008/62510filed Jul. 10, 2008, which claims priority from Japanese PatentApplication 2007-181425 filed Jul. 10, 2007, the contents of all ofwhich are incorporated herein by reference, in their entirety.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to a communication management system, acommunication management terminal device, a communication managementmethod, and a program thereof, which are capable of havingcommunications with highly reliable communication parties by eliminatingunwanted communications transmitted from communication parties via acommunication network.

BACKGROUND ART

With a communication network utilized by unspecified large number ofpeople, there may be generated communications that are not desired bythe users of the communication network, such as crank calls, unsolicitede-mails, and ill-willed communication accesses.

As measures taken for such cases, services utilized heretofore are: aservice which rejects reception of calls and e-mails by ordering atelecommunication company to reject e-mails and incoming calls from aspecific terminal device and a specific communication party; anunsolicited e-mail countermeasure service capable of rejecting receptionof a specific e-mail and the like, which is provided by an Internetaccess provider.

However, for the above-described services, it is necessary to apply inadvance to the telecommunication company or to the Internet accessprovider regarding the communication party from whom the user desires toreject the e-mails and calls. Thus, a heavy burden is imposed on theuser, e.g., it is necessary for the user to specify such communicationparty.

Further, it has been difficult to implement a flexible communicationmanagement service upon which the intention of the user is reflected.

In the meantime, it is possible to lighten the risk of the user to beinvolved in the aforementioned unwanted communications through employinga method with which: the user of a communication network allows only thecommunication accesses and communications from specific communicationparties, and further, the specific communication parties are put into alist; and communications are performed only with the communicationparties on the list. The list of the communication parties permitted tomake communications in this case is called a white list hereinafter asopposed to a black list.

However, such white list needs to be managed individually by the usersof the communication network. This imposes such a troublesome work onthe users that the communication party permitted to have communicationsneed to be added or deleted explicitly by the user.

For such inconvenience, no method for controlling communications bygenerating and managing such white list automatically has beendisclosed.

-   Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent Application Publication    2004-523012-   Patent Document 2: Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication    2005-275988

As described above, a first issue is that the white list needs to bemanaged by individual users, and the other users and communicationparties the user desires to permit to have communications have to beadded and deleted manually. Thus, such troublesome work has to be doneby the users themselves.

Further, a second issue is that it is necessary to conduct constantmaintenance in order to keep the usefulness and the reliability of thewhite list, since the user added once to the white list continues to beon the white list unless it is canceled from the white list manually. Inthis regards, it is a troublesome work for the user.

It is therefore an object of the present invention to improve theabove-described inconveniences and to eliminate communications andcommunication accesses from communication parties that are not permittedto have communications with a communication device, when communicationsand communication accesses are made from the communication parties tothe communication device which is connected to unspecified large numberof people via a communication network.

In order to achieve the foregoing object, the communication managementsystem according to the present invention is designed as a communicationmanagement system which manages talks and communications performed via acommunication network, and the system includes: a communication historyinformation memory device which stores history information of the talksand communications by each talk and communication partner user; acondition information memory device which stores a reliability rule thatis a basis for judging a reliability relationship of the talks andcommunications; a communication admissible list generating device whichjudges whether or not the partner user is reliable enough based on thehistory information of the talks and communications stored in thecommunication history information memory device and the reliability rulestored in the condition information memory device, and generates a listwith a valid time limit; and a communication admissible list memorydevice which stores the list generated by the communication admissiblelist generating device, and provides the list in response to an inquirythat is made when performing the talk and communication with the partneruser.

The communication management program according to the present inventionis a communication management program which controls management of talksand communications performed via a communication network, and theprogram causes a computer to execute: a function which manages historyinformation of the talks and communications as a database by eachpartner user of the talks and communications; a function which manages areliability rule as a basis for judging a reliability relationship ofthe talks and communications as a database; a function which judgeswhether or not the partner user is reliable enough based on the historyinformation of the talks and communications and the reliability rule,and generates a list with a valid time limit; and a function whichmanages the list, and provides the list in response to an inquiry thatis made when performing the talk and communication with the partneruser.

The communication management method according to the present inventionis a communication management method which controls management of talksand communications performed via a communication network, and the methodincludes: managing history information of the talks and communicationsas a database by each partner user of the talks and communications;managing a reliability rule as a basis for judging a reliabilityrelationship of the talks and communications as a database; judgingwhether or not the partner user is reliable enough based on the historyinformation of the talks and communications and the reliability rule,and generating a list with a valid time limit; and managing the list,and providing the list in response to an inquiry that is made whenperforming the talk and communication with the partner user.

The present invention includes the communication admissible partyselecting device for selecting the communication party that is permittedto have communications with the communication device based on thehistory information of the communications made by the communicationdevice. This makes it possible to eliminate the communications and thecommunication accesses from the communication party who is not permittedto have communications and to update the communication party selectedbased on the updated history information.

BEST MODES FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

Next, an exemplary embodiment of a communication management systemaccording to the invention will be described by referring to theaccompanying drawings.

(First Exemplary Embodiment)

A first exemplary embodiment according to the communication managementsystem of the present invention is designed to be applied to acommunication terminal device 10 that is connected to a communicationnetwork shown in FIG. 1 to manage telephone calls and communicationsmade by the communication terminal device 10. As shown in FIG. 1, thecommunication terminal device 10 includes a communication device 11which performs communications with communication parties that areconnected to the communication network.

As the basic structure, the communication management system according tothe first exemplary embodiment of the invention includes: communicationhistory information 12 for storing communication history informationregarding the communications made by the communication device 11; and acommunication admissible list generating device 14 which makes a list ofcommunication parties that are permitted to have communications with thecommunication device 11 based on the communication history information.As will be described later, a period (and a time limit) during which thecommunications are permitted is set for each of the communicationparties that are on the list.

Further, the management communication system also includes: a conditioninformation memory device 13 which stores condition information that isapplied when the communication admissible list generating device 14makes the list of the communication parties; and a communicationadmissible list memory device 15 which stores the list generated by thecommunication admissible list generating device 14. Note here that thecommunication terminal device 10 performs communications with thecommunication terminals that are on the list, based on the list storedin the communication admissible list memory device 15.

The communication terminal device 10 may be a typical server device or acomputer having a CPU, a memory, a hard disk device, and the like or aportable terminal such as a portable telephone or a PDA having a CPU, amemory and the like.

Details thereof will be described hereinafter.

The communication device 11 has a communication interface connected tothe communication network, and has a communication control function(corresponds to a communication control device) which controlscommunications performed with other users (communication parties) byusing a telephone, e-mail, and the like. Thereby, the communicationterminal device 10 can make communications with the communicationparties by voice, data, or multimedia.

Further, the communication device 11 has a receiving-communicationjudging function which judges whether or not to permit thecommunications by referring to the communication admissible list(corresponds to the communication admissible period list) in thecommunication admissible list memory device 15 for the telephone calls,communications, and the communication accesses (collectively referred toas “communication”) performed with the communication parties.

Furthermore, the communication device 11 has a history informationstoring function which generates communication history informationshowing the history of communications made by the communication device11 and stores the communication history information to the communicationhistory memory device 12. The communication history information maycontain the information for specifying the communication party, thenumber of times of communications, and communication amount.

Further, the communication device 11 has a list search and judgingfunction which searches the communication admissible list memory device15 before having the communication and judges whether or not thecommunication party with which the communication device 11 is to have acommunication is on the communication admissible list and whether or notthe period within which the communication is permitted (referred to as“valid period” hereinafter) is unexpired. The communication device 11does not have a communication with the communication party whose validtime limit is expired.

The communication history information memory device 12 is a databasehaving a history information storing function which stores thecommunication history information of the communication device 11. Asdescribed above, the communication history information containsinformation regarding the communication party users with whom thecommunication terminal device 10 performs communications via thecommunication device 11, the communication start time, communication endtime, length of communicated time, communication data amount, and thelike. In accordance with the communication made by the communicationdevice 11, the content of the communication history information isupdated. Thus, it is possible to keep the state having the latestcommunication history information stored in the communication historyinformation memory device 12.

Further, the communication history information memory device 12 may beset not to record the history information when the communication partyuser does not respond to transmission and reception of communications orthe communication terminal 10 side does not respond to the communicationmade from the communication party.

This makes it possible not to allot the communication admissible periodfor a case of one-sided communication (or communication request) and acase where a communication session is not established. Further, it ispossible to avoid giving a communication admissible period allotted(issued) anew to the communication party that is on the communicationadmissible list, based on the one-sided communication (or communicationrequest).

As described above, in a case of one-sided communication (orcommunication request) and a case where a communication session is notestablished, the communication history information memory device 12 maybe set to record information indicating that the communication sessionis not established.

In this case, it is also possible to avoid giving a communicationadmissible period allotted to the case of one-sided communication (orcommunication request) and the case where a communication session is notestablished. Furthermore, it is also possible to manage thecommunication parties who make one-sided communications (orcommunication requests) by putting them on a list.

The condition information memory device 13 has a condition informationholding function which holds condition information (referred to as“reliability rule” hereinafter) that is set in advance as the basis forjudging the relationship of trust with each of the communicationparties.

The reliability rule is the information used for judging whether or notthe communication party user can be trusted, and it contains thecommunication history information period (referred to as “target period”hereinafter) as a target used for calculation processing whencalculating the communication admissible period (or communicationadmissible time limit) from the communication history information, andthe reference values of the number of times of talks or communicationsthat can be judged as being trusted, the time, the amount, and the likethereof.

Note here that the target period as the basis for judging whether or notto trust the communication party is defined as BaseTime, the informationfor judging whether or not to trust the target period based on thenumber of times of talks is defined as ConfTalkTime, the information forjudging whether or not to trust based on the number of times of talks isdefined as ConfTalkCount, the information for judging whether or not totrust based on the number of times of communications is defined asConfTransCount, and the time which determines the length of given validtime limit is defined as ExtensionTime.

Regarding the relational information thereof, it is assumed that suchsetting is inputted in advance via an input device that “a valid timelimit of ExtensionTime is given to a partner whose length of time oftalks is ConfTalkTime, number of times of talks is ConfTalkCount, andthe number of times of communications is ConfTransCount in a period ofBaseTime”. Further, it is also possible to employ a structure in whichthe reliability rule can be inputted and set by the user using an inputdevice that is provided normally to the communication terminal device10, such as a keyboard.

The communication admissible list generating device 14 has a historyinformation acquiring function which acquires the communication historyinformation made by the communication party in a target period(LogLength) of a specific past period set in advance from thecommunication history information memory device 12.

As the communication history information, acquired are the total timelength of talks and communications TalkTimeTox, the number of times oftalks TalkCountTox, and the number of times of communicationsTransCountTox. Processing target period LogLength may be set by the userof the communication terminal device 10 by using an input device such asa keyboard. Alternatively, the communication terminal device 10 may havedefault fixed setting. However, the method for setting the processingtarget period LogLength is not limited to those.

Further, the communication admissible list generating device 14 has areliability rule information acquiring function which acquires thereliability rule from the relation judging information holding device13, and a communication admissible period calculating function whichcalculates period (communication admissible period) during which thecommunication with each communication party is permitted and thecommunication admissible time limit (valid time limit) which is the timelimit of the period based on the acquired reliability rule and thecommunication history information.

The communication admissible period is obtained by using a followingexpression.

$\begin{matrix}{{CurrentTime} + {\alpha_{1}\left( {\frac{{TalkTimeTox} \times {BaseTime}}{{ConfTalkTime} \times {LogLength}} \times {ExtensionTime}} \right)} + {\alpha_{2}\left( {\frac{{TalkTimeTox} \times {BaseTime}}{{ConfTalkTime} \times {LogLength}} \times {ExtensionTime}} \right)} + {\alpha_{3}\left( {\frac{{TalkTimeTox} \times {BaseTime}}{{ConfTalkTime} \times {LogLength}} \times {ExtensionTime}} \right)}} & \left\lbrack {{Expression}\mspace{14mu} 1} \right\rbrack\end{matrix}$

Note here that CurrentTime is the current time, and α₁-α₃ are weightvariables of the reliability rule with which “α₁₊α₂₊α₃=1” can besatisfied.

The weight variables of each reliability rule may be set by the user ofthe communication terminal device 10 via the input device such as akeyboard. Alternatively, the communication terminal device 10 may havedefault setting in advance. Further, the method of setting suchvariables is not limited only to those.

Furthermore, for the expression for calculating the valid time limit isnot limited to the above-described one, but any expression can be usedas long as it is an expression with which the valid time limit changesdepending on the quantitative values such as the communicated time, thenumber of times of communications, and the communication amount acquiredfrom the communication history information.

Moreover, it is possible to set so as not to issue the valid time limitfor the case where the quantitative values such as the communicatedtime, the number of times of communications, and the communicationamount acquired from the communication history information do not reachthe defined values.

Further, the communication admissible list generating device 14 has avalid time limit updating function which compares the newly calculatedvalid time limit with the corresponding entry valid time limitregistered in advance to the communication admissible list, and updatesthe entry valid time limit to the newly calculated valid time limit whenthe newly calculated valid time limit is later than the entry valid timelimit.

When the newly calculated valid time limit is within the registeredcommunication admissible period, i.e., when the newly calculated validtime limit expires before the valid time limit, the valid time limit isnot updated.

Further, the communication admissible list generating device 14 has anadmissible time limit confirming function which confirms whether or notthe communication admissible time limit of each partner terminal deviceon the list is valid, and also has a terminal registration cancelingfunction which deletes the communication party from the list when thevalid time limit is expired, i.e., when the current time has passed thecommunication admissible time limit.

Furthermore, the communication admissible list generating device 14 hasa list storing function which stores the generated communicationadmissible list to the communication admissible list memory device 15.

The generated communication admissible list is table information whichis configured with entry information having the communication party user(communication party) and the communication admissible period (validtime limit) corresponding to the communication party as one unit.

The communication admissible list memory device 15 has a communicationadmissible list storing and holding function which stores and holds thegenerated communication admissible list, and a list informationproviding function which provides the entry information of thecorresponding communication admissible list in response to a requestfrom the communication device 11.

(Explanation of Actions of First Exemplary Embodiment)

Next, actions of the communication management system according to thefirst exemplary embodiment will be described.

First, when the communication device 11 performs a communication with acommunication party that is permitted to have communications in advance,the communication history is outputted to the communication historyinformation memory device 12, and the communication history informationmemory device 12 updates the communication history information (ahistory information updating step). Then, the communication admissiblelist generating device 14 acquires the updated communication historyinformation from the communication history information memory device 12(a history information acquiring step). Thereafter, the communicationadmissible list generating device 14 acquires the admissible periodsetting condition from the condition information memory device 13 (asetting condition acquiring step), and sets the communication admissibleperiod based on the admissible period setting condition and thecommunication history information (a communication admissible periodsetting step). The communication device 11 selects the communicationparty that is permitted to have communications with the communicationdevice based on the communication history information (a communicationadmissible party selecting step).

The contents of the history information updating step, the historyinformation acquiring step, the setting condition acquiring step, thecommunication admissible period setting step, and the communicationadmissible party selecting step may be put into a program and have itexecuted by a computer. In that case, the program is recorded on arecording medium, and the recording medium having the program recordedthereon can be handled as a target of commercial transactions.

Now, the action of the communication terminal device 10 executed whengenerating the communication admissible list based on the communicationand talk history information (registration update of the communicationadmissible list) will be described by referring to a flowchart of FIG.2.

First, the communication device 11 performs a communication with acommunication party, generates the communication history informationbased on the communication, and stores the communication historyinformation to the communication history information memory device 12(step S101). Thereby, the communication history information in thecommunication history information memory device 12 is updated.

Then, the communication admissible list generating device 14 acquiresthe communication history information of the communication partyregarding the communications performed by the communication device 11 ina specific past period (hereinafter, referred to as “processing targetperiod”—LogLength) (step S102). Thereafter, the communication admissiblelist generating device 14 acquires the reliability rule that is thesetting condition of the communication admissible period from thecondition information memory device 13 (step S103).

The communication admissible time limit (referred to as “valid timelimit” hereinafter) for each of the corresponding communication partiesis calculated based on the reliability rule and the communicationhistory information (step S104), and the calculated valid time limit andthe valid time limit registered in advance to the communicationadmissible list memory device 15 are compared (step S105).

When the newly calculated valid time limit is later than the valid timelimit of the communication entry registered in advance, the valid timelimit of the communication entry is updated to the newly calculatedvalid time limit (step S106). In the meantime, when the newly calculatedvalid time limit is before the already-registered valid time limit ofthe communication admissible list, the valid time limit of thecommunication entry is not updated.

Then, based on a result obtained by conducting the judgment on all thecommunication entries on the communication admissible list, thecommunication party whose valid time limit is expired is deleted fromthe communication admissible list (step S107).

Thereby, the communication parties that are permitted to havecommunications are put on the communication admissible list, and thecommunication party whose time limit of the communication admissibleperiod (valid time limit) is expired can be eliminated automatically.

When making a communication with the communication party, thecommunication device 11 always refers to the communication admissiblelist, and establishes a communication session only with thecommunication party which is on the communication admissible list andhas a valid communication admissible period.

Therefore, it is possible to effectively avoid having one-sidedcommunications from the partner side, such as crank calls andunsolicited mails.

Next, described by referring to a flowchart of FIG. 3 is an action ofthe communication terminal device 10 for judging whether or not topermit a communication with a communication party (communicationpermission judgment) when performing a communication with thecommunication party via the communication device 11.

First, the communication device 11 accesses to the communicationadmissible list memory device 15 and searches the entry regarding thecommunication party that is about to have a communication (step S111),and judges whether or not the entry of the communication party iscontained on the communication admissible list (step S112).

When the entry is not found therein, the communication party isconsidered as an unreliable communication party. Thus, no communicationis performed.

When the entry of the communication party is on the communicationadmissible list, the valid time limit of the entry is compared with thecurrent time (step S113), and it is judged whether or not the valid timelimit is later than the current time, i.e., whether or not thecommunication admissible period is valid (step S114).

When the communication admissible period is valid, the communicationdevice 11 considers the communication party as reliable, and establishesa communication session with the communication party and starts acommunication (step S115: communication call establishment controlfunction).

In the meantime, when the communication admissible period is invalid,i.e., when the valid time limit is expired, the communication deviceconsiders the communication party as unreliable, and does not establisha communication session (step S116).

As described above, with the first exemplary embodiment, thecommunication terminal device can eliminate communications andcommunication accesses from malicious communication parties, such ascrank calls and unsolicited mails. Therefore, it is possible to selectthe communication party flexibly on the communication terminal deviceused by the user without applying to a telecommunication company or anInternet access provider. Further, it is possible to generate and updatethe communication admissible list automatically based on thecommunication history information, so that the user of the communicationterminal device can lighten the troublesome work required formaintaining and keeping the communication admissible list (white list)manually.

Further, through setting the communication admissible period with thecommunication party having a large amount of talks and communications aswell as with other users to be longer, a long period can be allowed tothe closely-related communication parties with whom communications aremade more frequently. Meanwhile, it comes to automatically rejectcommunications with the communication party which becomes estranged anddoes not make communications any more.

Further, in order to keep the registered state to the white list, it isnecessary to perform a specific amount of talks and communications ormore with the party in a specific period. Thus, a malicious user(communication party) registered on the white list can be eliminatedeffectively.

(Second Exemplary Embodiment)

Next, a second exemplary embodiment according to the communicationmanagement system of the present invention will be described. The secondexemplary embodiment of the communication management system of thepresent invention is a mode in which the communication management systemaccording to the exemplary embodiment of the invention is applied toservers (a communication control server 23, a communication admissiblelists management server 22) shown in FIG. 4. The servers manage talksand communications between communication terminals exchanged via acommunication network based on the communication management systemaccording to the exemplary embodiment of the invention.

The communication management system according to the second exemplaryembodiment of the invention includes: a communication history memorydevice 232 mounted to the communication control server 23; and acondition information memory device 223, a communication admissible listgenerating device 224, and a communication admissible list memory device225 mounted to the communication admissible list management server 22.The communication control server 23 has a communication control device231 for controlling communications between the communication terminals.Further, a condition information setting device 202 is mounted to thecommunication terminal device 20.

In FIG. 4, FIG. 6, and FIG. 10, the communication control device 231 andthe communication history memory device 232 are mounted to thecommunication control server 23, while the condition information memorydevice 223, the communication admissible list generating device 224, andthe communication admissible list memory device 255 are mounted to thecommunication admissible list management server 22 separately. However,the exemplary embodiment is not limited only to such case. Thecommunication control device 231, the communication history memorydevice 232, the condition information memory device 223, thecommunication admissible list generating device 224, and thecommunication admissible list memory device 255 may be mounted to asingle server. Further, the communication control device 231, thecommunication history memory device 232, the condition informationmemory device 223, the communication admissible list generating device224, and the communication admissible list memory device 255 may bemounted separately to servers other than the communication controlserver 23 and the communication admissible list management server 22. Ina case where those devices are mounted to a single server, maintenanceof each of those devices can be done collectively. Further, bydistributing each of those devices in a plurality of blocks by dividingthe devices based on the functions, each of the devices can be managedby each function.

The condition information setting device 202 inputs, on thecommunication terminal device 20 side, setting of the conditioninformation which is applied when selecting the communication party thatis allowed to have communications. The communication history informationmemory device 232 stores the communication history information regardingthe communications performed by each communication terminal device. Thecommunication admissible list generating device 224 is connected to thecommunication history information memory device 232, and generates listsof communication parties of each communication terminal device based onthe communication history information. The condition information memorydevice 223 is provided along with the communication admissible listgenerating device 224, and stores the condition information inputtedfrom the condition information setting device 202. The communicationadmissible list memory device 225 stores the lists generated by thecommunication admissible list generating device 224.

The communication terminal device 20, the communication control server23, and the communication admissible list management server 22 may beimplemented by a typical server device or a personal computer whichincludes a CPU, a memory, a hard disk device, and the like, or may be aportable terminal such as a portable telephone or a PDA which includes aCPU, a memory, and the like. In that case, the program is recorded on arecording medium, and the recording medium having the program recordedthereon can be handled as a target of commercial transactions.

Detailed explanations thereof will be provided hereinafter.

The communication device 201 of the communication terminal device 20includes a communication interface connected to the communicationnetwork, and executes communications with a communication party (anothercommunication terminal device) via the communication network by using atelephone, e-mail, or the like.

In this exemplary embodiment, the communication device 201 is connectedto the communication control device 231 of the communication controlserver 23 to be described later via a communication line, and executescommunications with the communication party according to thecommunication control performed by the communication control device 231.

The condition information setting device 202 has a condition informationsetting function which transmits reliability rule setting information tothe condition information memory device of the list management server22.

This makes it possible for the user of the communication terminal device20 to set the condition for generating the communication admissible listflexibly and easily in accordance with the communication state and thecommunication party.

The communication admissible list management server 22 may have afunction which sets the condition for generating the communicationadmissible list to the condition information setting device 202.

Next, each device provided to the communication control server 21 willbe described in detail.

The communication control device 231 has a communication controlfunction which performs controls of communications and communicationsessions executed by the communication device 201 of the communicationterminal device 20. Thereby, the communication terminal device 20 canmake communications with other users (communication parties) by voice,data, or multimedia via the communication network.

Further, through providing this communication control function to thecommunication control server 23 that is connected to the communicationterminal device 20 via the communication line, communications performedwith a plurality of communication terminal devices can be controlledsimultaneously. Furthermore, the functional load imposed upon each ofthe communication terminals devices 20 can be lightened.

Further, the communication control device 231 has a receivingcommunication judging function which judges whether or not to permit acommunication and a communication access (generally called“communication”) made to the communication device 201 from acommunication party by referring to the communication admissible list inthe communication admissible list memory device 225.

Furthermore, the communication control device 231 has a historyinformation storing function which stores the communication historyinformation showing the history of communications performed by thecommunication device 201 to the communication history information memorydevice 232. The communication history information may contain theinformation for specifying the communication party, the number of timesof communications, a total amount of communications, and the like.

Further, the communication control device 231 has a list searching andjudging function which searches the communication admissible list memorydevice 225 and judges whether or not the communication party that is tohave a communication is on the communication admissible list and whetheror not the communication admissible time limit (referred to as “validtime limit” hereinafter) is valid, before performing a communication bythe communication device 201. When the valid time limit is expired, thecommunication control device 231 does not establish a communicationsession between the communication device 201 and the communicationparty.

Further, the communication control device 231 has a communicationhistory information storing function which acquires the communicationhistory information of the communication device 201 when thecommunication device 201 performs a communication, and stores thecommunication history information to the communication historyinformation memory device 232. Furthermore, the communication controldevice 231 has a history information updating function which updates thecommunication history information stored in the communication historyinformation memory device 232 based on the communication performed bythe communication device 201.

In the exemplary embodiment, described is a case where the communicationcontrol device 231 takes the communication device 201 of thecommunication terminal device 20 as a target of communication control.However, it is to be understood that the communication control device231 also performs the communication control for the communicationdevices of other different communication terminal devices in the samemanner.

Like the communication history information memory device 12 of the firstexemplary embodiment, the communication history information memorydevice 232 is a database having a history information memory functionwhich stores the communication history information of the communicationdevice 201.

Further, as described above, the communication history informationcontains the information regarding the communication party with whichthe communication terminal device 20 communicates via the communicationdevice 201, the communication start time, the communication end time,the length of communicated time, the communication data amount, and thelike.

In this exemplary embodiment, the communication history informationmemory device 232 stores and keeps communication history information ofa plurality of different communication terminal devices including thecommunication terminal device 20.

The communication control device 231 updates the contents of thecommunication history information as the communication device 201performs a communication, so that the communication history informationmemory device 232 can maintain the state where the latest communicationhistory information of the communication device 201 is stored.

Further, when the communication party user does not respond to transmitand receive a communication, information including the fact indicatingthat the communication party does not respond to have a communication isrecorded. Alternatively, such case may be set to record no historyinformation.

As in the case of the condition information memory device 13 of thefirst exemplary embodiment, the condition information memory device 223provided to the communication admissible list management server 22 has acondition information holding function which holds condition information(referred to as “reliability rule” hereinafter) which is set in advanceas the basis for judging the relationship of trust with each of thecommunication parties.

Further, the condition information memory device 223 has a conditioninformation acquiring function which stores the reliability ruletransmitted from the condition information setting device 202.

The reliability rule is the information used for judging whether or notthe communication party user can be trusted, and it contains thecommunication history information period (referred to as “target period”hereinafter) as a target used for calculation processing whencalculating the communication admissible period (or communicationadmissible time limit) from the communication history information, andthe reference values of the number of times of talks or communicationswhich can be judged as being trusted, the time, amount, and the likethereof during the target period.

Note here that the target period as the basis for judging whether or notto trust the communication party is defined as BaseTime, the informationfor judging whether or not to trust the target period based on thelength of talks is defined as ConfTalkTime, the information for judgingwhether or not to trust based on the number of times of talks is definedas ConfTalkCount, the information for judging whether or not to trustbased on the number of times of communications is defined asConfTransCount, and the time which determines the length of given validtime limit is defined as ExtensionTime.

Regarding the relational information thereof, it is assumed that suchsetting is inputted in advance via the input device that “a valid timelimit of ExtensionTime is given to a partner whose length of time ofcommunication is ConfTalkTime, number of times of talks isConfTalkCount, and the number of times of communications isConfTransCount in a period of BaseTime”.

Further, it is also possible to employ a structure in which thereliability rule can be inputted and set by the user using an inputdevice that is provided normally to the communication terminal device10, such as a keyboard.

The communication admissible list generating device 224 has acommunication history information acquiring function which acquirescommunication history information from the communication historyinformation memory device 232.

Further, the communication admissible list generating device 224 has atransmission and reception combination list generating function whichsets a combination of the caller and receiver (transmitter and receiver)contained in the communication history information as a transmitter andreceiver combination entry, and generates a list of transmitter andreceiver combinations configured with the transmitter and receivercombination entries.

Note here that the communication admissible list generating device 224has a history information acquiring function which acquires thecommunication history made by the communication party in a target period(LogLength) of a specific past period set in advance from thecommunication history memory device 232 for each of the set transmitterand receiver combination entries in the same manner as that of thecommunication admissible list generating device 14 of the firstexemplary embodiment.

Further, as the communication history information, acquired are thetotal time length of talks and communication TalkTimeXandY, the numberof times of talks TalkCountXandY, and the number of times ofcommunications TransCountXandY. Processing target period LogLength maybe set by the user of the communication terminal device by using aninput device such as a keyboard. Alternatively, the terminal device mayhave default fixed setting. However, the method for setting theprocessing target period LogLength is not limited to those.

Further, the communication admissible list generating device 224 has areliability rule information acquiring function which acquires thereliability rule from the relation judging information holding device223, and a communication admissible period calculating function whichcalculates period (communication admissible period) during which thecommunication with each communication party is permitted and thecommunication admissible time limit (valid time limit) based on theacquired reliability rule and the communication history information.

The communication admissible period is obtained by using a followingexpression.

$\begin{matrix}{{CurrentTime} + {\alpha_{1}\left( {\frac{{TalkTimeXandY} \times {BaseTime}}{{ConfTalkTime} \times {LogLength}} \times {ExtensionTime}} \right)} + {\alpha_{2}\left( {\frac{{TalkCountXandY} \times {BaseTime}}{{ConfTalkTime} \times {LogLength}} \times {ExtensionTime}} \right)} + {\alpha_{3}\left( {\frac{{TransCountXandY} \times {BaseTime}}{{ConfTalkTime} \times {LogLength}} \times {ExtensionTime}} \right)}} & \left\lbrack {{Expression}\mspace{14mu} 2} \right\rbrack\end{matrix}$

Note here that CurrentTime is the current time, and α₁−α₃ are weightvariables of the reliability rule with which “α₁₊α₂₊α₃=1” can besatisfied.

The weight variables of each reliability rule may be set the user of thecommunication terminal device 20 via the condition information settingdevice 202. Alternatively, the condition information memory device 223may have default setting in advance. Further, the method of setting suchvariables is not limited only to those.

Furthermore, for the expression for calculating the valid time limit isnot limited to the above-described one, but any expression can be usedas long as it is an expression with which the valid time limit changesdepending on the quantitative values such as the communicated time, thenumber of times of communications, and the communication amount acquiredfrom the communication history information.

Moreover, it is possible to set so as not to issue the valid time limitfor the case where the quantitative values such as the communicatedtime, the number of times of communications, and the communicationamount included in the communication history information do not reachthe defined values.

Further, the communication admissible list generating device 224 has avalid time limit updating function which compares the newly calculatedvalid time limit with the corresponding entry valid time limitregistered in advance to the communication admissible list, and updatesthe entry valid time limit to the newly calculated valid time limit whenthe newly calculated valid time limit is later than the entry valid timelimit.

When the newly calculated valid time limit is within the registeredcommunication admissible period, i.e., when the newly calculated validtime limit expires before the valid time limit, the valid time limit isnot updated.

Further, the communication admissible list generating device 224 has anadmissible time limit checking function which checks whether or not thecommunication admissible time limit of each partner terminal on the listis valid, and also has a terminal registration canceling function whichdeletes the communication party from the list when the valid time limitis expired, i.e., when the current time has passed the communicationadmissible time limit.

Furthermore, the communication admissible list generating device 224 hasa list storing function which stores the generated communicationadmissible list to the communication admissible list memory device 225.

The generated communication admissible list is table information whichis configured with entry information having the communication party user(communication party) and the communication admissible period (validtime limit) corresponding to the communication party as one unit.

The communication admissible list memory device 225 has a communicationadmissible list storing and holding function which stores and holds thecommunication admissible list generated by the communication admissiblelist generating device 224, and a list information providing functionwhich provides the corresponding entry information within thecommunication admissible list in response to a request from thecommunication device 231.

(Explanation of Actions of Second Exemplary Embodiment)

Next, actions of the communication management system according to thesecond exemplary embodiment will be described.

First, the communication terminal device 20 makes a communication with acommunication party, and the communication control device 231 updatesthe communication history information stored in the communicationhistory information memory device 232 based on the communication (ahistory information updating step). Then, the communication admissiblelist generating device 224 acquires the updated communication historyinformation from the communication history information memory device 232(a history information acquiring step).

Thereafter, the communication admissible list generating device 224acquires the admissible period setting condition from the conditioninformation memory device 223 (a setting condition acquiring step), andsets the communication admissible period based on the admissible periodsetting condition and the communication history information (acommunication admissible period setting step). Then, the communicationadmissible list generating device 224 generates a list of communicationparties that are allowed to have communications with the communicationdevice based on the communication admissible period and thecommunication history information (a communication admissible listgenerating step).

The contents of the history information updating step, the historyinformation acquiring step, the setting condition acquiring step, thecommunication admissible period setting step, and the communicationadmissible list generating step may be put into a program and have itexecuted by a computer. In that case, the program is recorded on arecording medium, and the recording medium having the program recordedthereon can be handled as a target of commercial transactions.

Now, the action of the communication management system according to theexemplary embodiment executed when generating and updating thecommunication admissible list based on the communication and talkhistory information will be described by referring to a flowchart ofFIG. 5.

First, the communication device 201 performs a communication with acommunication party, and the communication control device 231 generatesthe communication history information based on the communication andstores the communication history information to the communicationhistory information memory device 232 (step S201). Thereby, thecommunication history information in the communication historyinformation memory device 232 is updated.

Then, the reliability rule inputted by the condition information settingdevice 202 of the communication terminal device 20 is transmitted to thecondition information memory device 233 of the communication admissiblelist management server 22 (step S202).

The communication admissible list generating device 224 periodicallyexecutes processing for generating and updating the communicationadmissible list (referred to as “communication admissible listgenerating and updating processing” hereinafter) based on thecommunication history information and the reliability rule.

First, the communication admissible list generating device 224 acquiresthe reliability rule and the communication history information from thehistory holding device 232 of the communication control server 23 (stepS203).

Then, the communication admissible list generating device 224 sets acombination (referred to as a transmitter and receiver combinationentry) of the caller and receiver (transmitter and receiver) containedin the acquired communication history information (step S204).

Thereafter, the communication admissible list generating device 224selects one transmitter and receiver combination, and calculates thevalid time limit of the selected transmitter and receiver combinationentry (referred to as “selected entry” hereinafter) based on thereliability rule and the communication history information (step S205).

Then, the communication admissible list generating device 224 judgeswhether or not the selected entry is already registered to thecommunication admissible list in the communication admissible listmemory device 225 (step S206).

When judged that the selected entry is registered in advance to thecommunication admissible list, the communication admissible listgenerating device 224 compares the calculated valid time limit with thevalid time limit registered in advance to judge whether or not the newlycalculated valid time limit is later than the valid time limitregistered in advance (step S207).

In a case where the calculated valid time limit is later than the validtime limit registered in advance, the corresponding valid time limit onthe communication admissible list is updated (step S208: valid timelimit updating processing).

In the meantime, when judged that the selected entry is not registeredto the communication admissible list, the selected entry and thecalculated valid time limit are registered to the communicationadmissible list (step S209).

Thereafter, the communication admissible list generating device 224makes a judgment to check whether or not the valid time limit updatingprocessing is performed on all the transmitter and receiver combinationentries (step S210). When the valid time limit updating processing isnot completed, the processing from step S205 is executed for thetransmitter and receiver combination entry on which the processing hasnot been executed. When the valid time limit updating processing iscompleted, the communication admissible list generating and updatingprocessing is ended.

The communication admissible list generating device 224 generates andupdates the communication admissible list through regularly executingthe communication admissible list generating and updating processing ofthe steps S203-210. Further, the communication admissible listgenerating and updating processing may be set to be executed based on anexecution request signal transmitted from the communication controlserver 23. This makes it possible to lighten the load on thecommunication admissible list management server 22 regarding thecommunication admissible list updating processing.

As described above, the second exemplary embodiment is designed toinclude the communication control server 23 which manages thecommunication history information of a plurality of communicationterminal devices and communication parties, and the communicationadmissible list management server 22 which manages the communicationadmissible list generated based on the communication historyinformation. Therefore, it is possible to lighten the functional loadimposed upon the communication terminal devices.

Further, it is possible to eliminate communications and communicationaccesses from malicious communication parties such as crank calls andunsolicited mails, and to select the communication party flexiblywithout applying to a telecommunication company or an Internet accessprovider.

Further, since it is possible to generate and update the communicationadmissible list automatically based on the communication historyinformation, the user of the communication terminal device can lightenthe troublesome work required for maintaining and keeping thecommunication admissible list (white list) manually.

Furthermore, through setting the communication admissible period withthe communication party having a large amount of talks andcommunications as well as with other users to be longer, a long periodcan be allowed to the closely-related communication parties with whomcommunications are made more frequently. Meanwhile, it comes toautomatically reject communications with the communication party whobecomes estranged and does not make communications any more.

Further, in order to keep the registered state to the white list, it isnecessary to perform a specific amount of talks and communications ormore with the party in a specific period. Thus, a malicious user(communication party) registered on the white list can be eliminatedeffectively.

Furthermore, it is possible to provide a high-security service byutilizing a combination of white lists of a plurality of users.

(Third Exemplary Embodiment)

Next, a third exemplary embodiment according to the communicationmanagement system of the present invention will be described.

Note here that same reference numerals are applied to the samecomponents as those of the second exemplary embodiment described above.

As shown in FIG. 6, the third exemplary embodiment of the communicationmanagement system according to the present invention has almost the samestructure as the case of the above-described second exemplary embodiment(FIG. 4) in terms of the device structural components of the system. Thethird exemplary embodiment is different from the second exemplaryembodiment in terms of the structure in respect that a group listsearching and acquiring device 321 is mounted to the communicationadmissible list management server 22 of the second exemplary embodiment,and a data sharing service server 32 is additionally provided to thecommunication terminal device 20 and the communication admissible listmanagement server 22.

Detailed explanations thereof will be provided hereinafter.

This exemplary embodiment is designed to include: a communicationterminal device 20 connected to communication parties and othercommunication terminal devices via a communication network; and acommunication control server 23 which controls communicating actionsexecuted by the communication terminal device 20. The communicationterminal device 20 includes: a communication device 201 which executescommunications with the communication parties and other communicationterminal devices; and a condition information setting device 202 whichinputs setting of condition information applied when selecting thecommunication party that is allowed to have a communication. Thecommunication control server 23 is connected to a single or a pluralityof communication terminal devices including the communication terminaldevice 20, and includes a communication control device 231 whichcontrols the communication actions executed by each of the communicationterminal devices and a communication history information memory device232 which stores the communication history information regarding thecommunications executed by each of the communication terminal devices.

Further, the third exemplary embodiment is designed to include: acommunication admissible list generating device 224 which is connectedto the communication history information memory device 232 and generatesa list of the communication parties of each of the communicationterminal devices based on the communication history information; acondition information memory device 223 which is provided along with thecommunication admissible list generating device 224 to store theinputted condition information; and a communication admissible listmemory device 225 which stores the list generated by the communicationadmissible list generating device 224. Further, a communicationmanagement server 22 having a group list searching and acquiring device321 for acquiring a list in response to a request from the lists storedin the communication admissible list memory device 225, a shared dataspace 342 which stores communication data used by the single orplurality of communication terminal devices, and a data sharing serviceserver 34 having an access control device which controls communicationaccesses for the shared data space 342 are connected to thecommunication control device 20 and the communication admissible listmanagement server 22.

The communication terminal device 20, the communication control server23, the communication admissible list management server 22, and the datasharing server 34 may be implemented by a typical server device or apersonal computer which includes a CPU, a memory, a hard disk device,and the like, or may be a portable terminal such as a portable telephoneor a PDA which includes a CPU, a memory, and the like.

Detailed explanations thereof will be provided hereinafter.

The communication device 201 of the communication terminal device 20includes a communication interface connected to the communicationnetwork, and executes communications with a communication party (anothercommunication terminal device) via the communication network by using atelephone, e-mail, or the like.

In this exemplary embodiment, the communication device 201 is connectedto the communication control device 231 of the communication controlserver 23 to be described later via a communication line, and executescommunications with the communication party according to thecommunication control performed by the communication control device 231.

Further, the communication device 201 has a communication accessexecuting function which makes communications accesses to the shareddata space 342 of the data sharing service server 34 to be describedlater.

As in the case of the second exemplary embodiment described above, thecondition information setting device 202 has a condition informationsetting function which transmits reliability rule setting information tothe condition information memory device 223 of the list managementserver 22.

This makes it possible for the user of the communication terminal device20 to set the condition for generating the communication admissible listflexibly and easily in accordance with the communication state and thecommunication party.

The communication admissible list management server 22 may have afunction which sets the condition for generating the communicationadmissible list to the condition information setting device 202.

Next, each device provided to the communication control server 21 willbe described in detail.

The communication control device 231 has a communication controlfunction which performs controls of communications and communicationsession executed by the communication device 201 of the communicationterminal device 20 as in the case of the second exemplary embodiment.Thereby, the communication terminal device 20 can make communicationswith other users (communication parties) by voice, data, or multimediavia the communication network.

Further, through providing this communication control function to thecommunication control server 23 that is connected to the communicationterminal device 20 via the communication line, communications performedwith a plurality of communication terminal devices can be controlledsimultaneously. Furthermore, the functional load imposed upon each ofthe communication terminals devices 20 can be lightened.

Further, the communication control device 231 has a receivingcommunication judging function which judges whether or not to permit acommunication and a communication access (generally called“communication”) made to the communication device 201 from acommunication party by referring to the communication admissible list inthe communication admissible list memory device 225.

Furthermore, the communication control device 231 has a historyinformation storing function which stores the communication historyinformation showing the history of communications performed by thecommunication device 201 to the communication history information memorydevice 232. The communication history information may contain theinformation for specifying the communication party, the number of timesof communications, a total amount of communications, and the like.

Further, the communication control device 231 has a list searching andjudging function which searches the communication admissible list memorydevice 255 and judges whether or not the communication party that is tohave a communication is on the communication admissible list and whetheror not the communication admissible time limit (referred to as “validtime limit” hereinafter) is valid, before performing a communication ofthe communication device 201. When the valid time limit is expired, thecommunication control device 231 does not establish a communicationsession with the communication device 201 of the communication party.

Further, the communication control device 231 has a communicationhistory information storing function which acquires the communicationhistory information of the communication device 201 when thecommunication device performs a communication, and stores thecommunication history information to the communication historyinformation memory device 232. Furthermore, the communication controldevice 231 has a history information updating function which updates thecommunication history information stored in the communication historyinformation memory device 232 based on the communication performed bythe communication device 201.

In this exemplary embodiment, described is a case where thecommunication control device 231 takes the communication device 201 ofthe communication terminal device 20 as a target of communicationcontrol. However, it is to be understood that the communication controldevice 231 performs the communication control for the communicationsdevices of other different communication terminal devices in the samemanner.

Like the communication history information memory device 12 of the firstexemplary embodiment, the communication history information memorydevice 232 is a database having a history information memory functionwhich stores the communication history information of the communicationdevice 201.

Further, as described above, the communication history informationcontains the information regarding the communication party with whichthe communication terminal device 20 communicated via the communicationdevice 201, the communication start time, the communication end time,the length of communicated time, the communication data amount, and thelike.

In this exemplary embodiment, the communication history informationmemory device 232 stores and keeps communication history information ofa plurality of different communication terminal devices including thecommunication terminal device 20.

The communication control device 231 updates the contents of thecommunication history information as the communication device 201performs a communication, so that the communication history informationmemory device 232 can maintain the state where the latest communicationhistory information of the communication device 201 is stored.

Further, when the communication party user does not respond to transmitand receive a communication, information including the fact indicatingthat the communication party does not respond to have a communication isrecorded. Alternatively, such case may be set to record no historyinformation.

Next, each device provided to the communication admissible listmanagement server 22 will be described in detail.

The condition information memory device 223 and the communicationadmissible list generating device 224 have the same functions as thoseof the second exemplary embodiment, respectively.

As in the case of the second exemplary embodiment described above, thecommunication admissible list memory device 225 has a communicationadmissible list storing and holding function which stores and holds thecommunication admissible list generated by the communication admissiblelist generating device 224, and a list information providing functionwhich provides the entry information of the corresponding communicationadmissible list in response to a request from the communication device231.

This makes it possible to properly provide the communication admissiblelist, which corresponds to a plurality of different communicationterminal devices, to the communication control device 231 which controlsthe communicating actions of each communication terminal device.

The group list searching and acquiring device 321 has a group memberlist searching and acquiring function which searches and acquires thecommunication admissible list stored in the communication admissiblelist memory device 325 in response to a group member list acquiringrequest from the access control device 341 of the data sharing serviceserver 34. When acquiring the group member list, the group listsearching and acquiring device 321 conducts a search hierarchically byfollowing the communication admissible lists stored in the communicationadmissible list memory device 325 based on a rule “belong to a samegroup as the communication party that is on the communication admissiblelist of the communication parties registered to the communicationadmissible list”, and acquires the group member list.

Processing performed by the group list searching and acquiring device321 for acquiring the group member list is executed by performingmulti-tree search for the communication admissible lists of theregistered communication parties by having the communication admissiblelist of the communication party as a start point in the communicationadmissible list memory device 225 as in FIG. 8, and acquires thedetected communication parties as the group member list.

Further, the group list searching and acquiring device 321 has: a groupmember list generating function which generates a group member listbased on the acquired communication admissible list and the receivedgroup member list acquiring request; a group member list holdingfunction which holds the generated group member list; and a group memberlist informing function which informs the group member list to theaccess control device 341.

The access control device 341 of the data sharing service server 34 hasan access control function which makes a judgment on an access inresponse to an access request transmitted from the communication device(for example, the communication device 201) of a plurality of differentcommunication terminal devices including the communication terminaldevice 20 and performs a control regarding whether or not to permit theaccess.

The access request is a signal for requesting an access to specificdata, and it is in this case is a signal for requesting an access to thetarget data of the shared data space 342 used by a specificcommunication terminal device or a specific group.

Further, the access control device 341 has a group member list acquiringrequest transmitting function which transmits, to the group listsearching and acquiring device 321, a group member list acquiringrequest having the communication party of the access request sender asthe start point of the search.

The group member list acquiring request may contain a search target anda value limiting the search range, e.g., “from the search start point tothe communication party on the three lower hierarchical layers of themultiple-tree structure”.

Further, the group member list acquiring request may contain theinformation which specifies the communication party that is set as thestart point of the search.

The shared data space 342 is a database memory device used by aplurality of communication terminal devices (including the communicationterminal device 20), and it has a shared data memory function whichstores data possessed or shared by a single or plurality ofcommunication terminal devices.

Further, the shared data space 342 may have a shared data providingfunction which provides the shared data in response to the access to theshared data made via the access control device 341.

(Explanation of Actions of Third Exemplary Embodiment)

Actions of the communication management system according to the thirdexemplary embodiment will be described.

Note here that the action for storing the communication admissible listto the communication admissible list memory device 225 according to thisexemplary embodiment is the same as the case of the second exemplaryembodiment (FIG. 5).

Next, actions of the group list searching and acquiring device 321 ofthe communication admissible list management server 22 according to thisexemplary embodiment will be described by referring to flowcharts ofFIG. 7A, FIG. 7B and to FIG. 8.

First, the group list searching and acquiring device 321 determines thepartner terminal user to be the start point of the group list search(step S301).

It is assumed here that the communication party set as the start pointof the search is contained in the group member list acquiring requesttransmitted from the access control device 341 that is the sender of therequest. As described above, the group member list acquiring request maycontain a value limiting the search range, e.g., “from the search startpoint to the communication party on the three lower hierarchical layersof the multiple-tree structure”.

Then, the group list searching and acquiring device 321 performsprocessing for acquiring the group member list shown in FIG. 7B targetedon the communication party that is the start point of the search (stepS302). Detailed actions of this processing will be described later.

Thereafter, the group list searching and acquiring device 321 informsthe generated group member list to the access control device 341, andends the processing (step S303).

Next, group member generating processing executed in step S302 of FIG.7A will be described by referring to the flowchart of FIG. 7B and a treechart of FIG. 8.

Here, described is the group member list generating processing executedby having the communication party A as the start point. Further, theprocessing is described by referring to a case where the group memberlist generating processing is executed under a member list acquiringcondition of “from the communication party set as the start point to thetwo lower hierarchical layers”.

First, the group list searching and acquiring device 321 acquires thegroup member list acquiring request transmitted from the access controldevice 341, and acquires the communication admissible list of thecommunication party (A of FIG. 8 in this case) set as the start pointfrom the communication admissible list memory device 225 in response tothe group member list acquiring request (step S311).

Then, the group list searching and acquiring device 321 selects onecommunication party (for example, B of FIG. 8) from the communicationparties (B and C in this case) which are on the acquired communicationadmissible list of A (step S312).

Thereafter, executed is a judgment regarding whether or not the selectedcommunication party (B) is already being registered to the group memberlist that is held in advance to the group list searching and acquiringdevice 321 (step S313). When judged that the communication party (B) isalready being registered, the processing for generating the group memberlist is not executed for the selected communication party (to stepS317).

When the selected communication party (B) is not registered to the groupmember list, the valid time limit of the entry of the communicationparty (B) is checked (step S314). When the valid time limit is expired,the communication party (B) is not registered to the group member list(to step S317).

When the admissible period of the communication party (B) is valid, thegroup list searching and acquiring device 321 registers thecommunication party (B) to the group member list (step S315).

Then, the group list searching and acquiring device 321 executes thegroup member list generating processing shown in the steps S311-S315recursively starting from the selected communication party (B) by havingthe group member list as a member adding target. Thereafter, it isjudged whether or not the group member list generating processing isexecuted on each of all the communication parties (for example, A or D)registered on the communication admissible list of the communicationparty (B in this case) on the lower layer set as the start point (stepS317).

When the group member list generating processing starting from thecommunication party on the lower hierarchical layer is ended, it isjudged whether or not the same group member list generating processingis executed on each of all the communication parties (B or C) registeredto the communication admissible list of the communication party (A) onthe upper hierarchical layer (step S318).

When the processing is not completed, the same processing is executed onthe communication party on which the processing has not been executed.

When the all processing having the communication parties B-G on thelower hierarchical layer as the start points is completed, the groupmember list generating processing having the communication party (A) asthe start point is ended.

Next, actions (communication access control actions) of the accesscontrol device 341 of the data sharing service server 34 whencontrolling and judging whether or not to permit a communication accessfrom the communication terminal device 20 to the shared data space 342will be described by referring to a flowchart of FIG. 9.

First, the communication terminal device 20 transmits an access requestto the access control device 341 for making an access to the shared dataspace 342 (step S321).

Then, the access control device 341 receives the access request, andtransmits a group member list acquiring request to the group listsearching and acquiring device 321 (step S322).

The access control device 341 acquires the group member list generatedresponding to the group member list acquiring request from the grouplist searching and acquiring device 321, and checks whether or not thecommunication terminal device 20 is contained in the group member list(step S323).

When the communication terminal device 20 is contained in the groupmember list, the access control device 341 allows the communicationterminal device 20 to make an access to the access target data withinthe shared data space 342 that belongs to a specific user (step S324).

In the meantime, when the communication terminal device 20 is notcontained in the group member list, the access control device 341rejects the communication terminal device 20 to make an access to theaccess target data of the shared data space 342 (step S325).

As described above, with the third exemplary embodiment, the group whichuses the shared data is set based on the communication admissible list(white list) which is generated from the communication historyinformation. Therefore, it is possible to have a highly reliable groupand data sharing service server.

Further, it is possible to have a highly reliable group and data sharingservice server based on the communication history.

Furthermore, since the user having more talk and communication amount isset to have a longer valid time limit, so that the parties who makecontact habitually are registered to the white list without minding it.This makes it possible to keep the group configured with highly reliablemembers.

Further, reconstruction of the users accessible to the shared data isautomatically conducted based on the communication history information,and the user that has become estranged in terms of relation regardingtalk and communication history is automatically derived of the accessright. Therefore, malicious users can be effectively and easilyeliminated from the group and the data sharing service.

Furthermore, even if a malicious user tries to get into a group of atarget person or tries to make an access to the shared data space of thedata sharing service server, the members of the group cannot berecognized from outside. In addition, unless the malicious user isregistered to the white list of the target user, it is possible that themalicious user may become excluded from the same group as that of thetarget party because of changes in the white list of some user. In orderto keep being the member of the group, it is necessary to make a contactcontinuously with the members of the same group. Therefore, it ispossible to achieve a system with which it is hard for the malicioususer to continuously participate in the data sharing service.

(Fourth Exemplary Embodiment)

Next, a fourth exemplary embodiment according to the communicationmanagement system of the present invention will be described.

Note here that same reference numerals are applied to the samecomponents as those of the second and third exemplary embodimentsdescribed above.

As shown in FIG. 10, the fourth exemplary embodiment of thecommunication management system of the present invention has almost thesame structure as the case of the third exemplary embodiment (FIG. 6) interms of the system device structural components. The structure of thefourth exemplary embodiment is different from the third exemplaryembodiment in respect that it has a community service server 44 insteadof the data sharing server service 34 of the third exemplary embodiment.

The constitutions of the communication terminal device 20, thecommunication admissible list management server 22, and thecommunication control server 23 are the same as those of the thirdexemplary embodiment. However, the communication device 201 of theterminal device 20 according to the fourth exemplary embodiment has acommunity access function which makes communication accesses to thecommunity service server 44.

The community service server 44 includes: a community space 442 whichstores information that is shared in a community configured with asingle or plurality of communication terminal users; an access controldevice 441 which controls accesses made by the communication terminalusers to the community; and a community generating and managing device443 which generates the community based on the group member listgenerated by the group list searching and acquiring device 321, andupdates the members of the community.

Details thereof will be descried hereinafter.

The access control device 441 has an access control function which makesa judgment on an access in response to an access request transmittedfrom the communication device (for example, the communication device201) of a plurality of different communication terminal devices, andperforms a control regarding whether or not to permit the access.

The access request is an access request signal for the target data whichis stored in the community space 442 and used by a specificcommunication terminal user or community.

Further, the access control device 441 has: an access inquiry functionwhich inquires whether or not the user that is the transmitter of theaccess request is a member of the community that owns the communityspace to which the access is requested; and a communication accessjudgment control function which performs a control to judge whether ornot to permit the communication access for the access request based on aresponse for the inquiry.

The community space 442 is a database memory device which stores datashared by the community that is formed when a single or plurality ofcommunication terminal users register and stores the setting informationof each community, and it has a shared data memory function which storesthe data.

Further, the community generating and managing device 443 has a groupmember list acquiring request transmitting function which transmits, tothe group list searching and acquiring device 321, a group member listacquiring request having the communication party of the access requestsender as the start point. The group member list acquiring request maycontain a value limiting the search range, e.g., “from the search startpoint to the communication party on the three lower hierarchical layersof the multiple-tree structure”. Further, the group member listacquiring request may contain the information which specifies thecommunication party that is set as the start point of the search.

Furthermore, the community generating and managing device 443 has: agroup search requesting function which regularly performs group searchof the community service users for the group list searching andacquiring device 321 of the communication admissible list managementserver 22; and a community information memory function which sets theuser information of the users belonging to the same group as theinformation belonging to the same community, and stores the userinformation in a related manner.

Moreover, the community generating and managing device 443 has acommunity setting and generating function which sets the communityhaving the users contained on the list as the members, based on thegroup member list notified from the group list searching and acquiringfunction 321.

Further, the community generating and managing device 443 has acommunity member update setting function which sets update of themembers of the set community based on the group member list.

At this time, the community generating and managing device 443 may setthe property of the all communication party users (referred to as“users” hereinafter) on the community user list as “unchecked”.

Further, the communities and the members belonging to the communitiesare stored in the community generating and managing device 443 by stepsshown in FIG. 12 to be described later, and the information is updatedregularly.

(Explanation of Actions of Fourth Exemplary Embodiment)

Actions of the communication management system according to the fourthexemplary embodiment will be described.

Note here that the action for storing the communication admissible listto the communication admissible list memory device 225 according to thisexemplary embodiment is the same as the cases of the second exemplaryembodiment (FIG. 5) and the third exemplary embodiment.

Further, for the action of the group list searching and acquiring device321 of this exemplary embodiment to generate the group member list isperformed in response to the group search request transmitted regularlyfrom the community generating and managing device 443 of this exemplaryembodiment instead of the group member list acquiring requesttransmitted from the access control device 341 of the third exemplaryembodiment. Other actions are the same as the case of the thirdexemplary embodiment (FIG. 7B).

Next, described by referring to a flowchart of FIG. 11 is an action ofthe access control device 441 of the community service server 44 of thisexemplary embodiment executed to control a judgment regarding whether ornot to permit an access of the communication terminal device 20 to thecommunity space 442.

First, the access control device 441 receives an access request from thecommunication terminal device 20 for the data space within the communityspace 442 that is used by a specific community (step S401).

The access control device 441 inquires to the community generating andmanaging device 443 whether or not the user of the communicationterminal device 20 is a member of the community that owns the data space(step S402).

Then, the access control device 441 judges whether or not the user ofthe communication terminal device 20 is the member of the communitybased on the inquiry result from the communication generating andmanaging device 443 (step S403).

When the user of the communication terminal device 20 is the member ofthe community, the access control device 441 permits the user of thecommunication terminal device 20 to make an access to the communityspace (step S404).

In the meantime, when the user of the communication terminal device 20is not the member of the community, the access control device 441 doesnot permit the user of the communication terminal device 20 to make anaccess to the community space (step S405).

In the explanation of the actions, the case where the communicationterminal device 20 makes an access to the community space 442 has beendescribed. However, the communication terminal device 20 may be ageneral communication party (other communication terminal device)connected to the community service server via a communication line.

Next, actions of the community generating and managing device 443 of thecommunity server 44 according to this exemplary embodiment will bedescribed by referring to a flowchart of FIG. 12. It is assumed that thecommunity generating and managing device 443 regularly acquires thegroup member list that is generated by the group list searching andacquiring device 321.

First, the community generating and managing device 443 generates acommunity user list based on the group member list (step S411). At thistime, it is assumed that all the properties of the users on thegenerated community user list are set as unchecked.

The community generating and managing device 443 selects the uncheckedusers from the generated community user list (step S412).

Then, the community generating and managing device 443 transmits a groupmember list acquiring request, which is set to have the selected user asthe start point, to the group list searching and acquiring device 321(step S413).

In response to the group member list acquiring request, the communitygenerating and managing device 443 acquires the group member listnotified from the group list searching and acquiring device 321. Then,the community generating and managing device 443 sets the communityhaving the users on the group user list as the members, and stores thecommunity list in which the community and the members are related (stepS414).

Thereafter, the community generating and managing device 443 judgeswhether or not the processing of steps S413-414 is executed on each usercontained on the generated community list (step S415).

When the processing of steps S413-414 is completed on all the users onthe community list, update of the community is ended.

When there is a user on which the processing of steps S413-414 isuncompleted, the processing of steps 412-414 is executed.

As described above, with this exemplary embodiment, the actions of thesteps S411-415 are executed regularly to update the community, anddynamically updates the community members in accordance with thechanging community admissible list. Therefore, the reliability of thecommunity can be maintained.

This makes it possible to use the group member list generated by thegroup list searching and acquiring device 321 for automaticallygenerating the community such as SNS (Social Network Service).Furthermore, this makes it possible to manage and maintain the dynamicand highly reliable community service based on the communication historyinformation.

As described above, with the fourth exemplary embodiment, the communityis generated based on the communication admissible list (white list)generated from the communication history information. Thus, it ispossible to achieve a community service system which generates andmanages the high-security and highly reliable community automatically.

Further, even if a malicious user tries to make an access to thecommunity to which the target user belongs, the members of the communitycannot be recognized from outside. In addition, in order to keep beingthe member of the group, it is necessary to make a contact continuouslywith the other members of the community. Therefore, it is possible toachieve a community server and service to which it is hard for themalicious user to make intrusion.

Further, unless the malicious user is registered to the white list ofthe target user, the malicious user may become excluded from thecommunity because of changes in the white list of other members. In themeantime, the users having regular contacts with each other areregistered to the white list without minding it, so that those users canbe maintained being the community members.

Further, the community is generated based on the white list that isgenerated from the communication history information, so that it ispossible to generate the community whose members are highly reliable.

Furthermore, reconstruction of the members is executed automaticallybased on the communication history amount. Thus, the user that hasbecome estranged in terms of relation in the communication history isautomatically expelled from the community, so that it is possible togenerate the community and the group to which the malicious user is hardto make intrusion. Moreover, it is possible to maintain and manage thecommunity easily.

While the present invention has been described by referring to theembodiments (and examples), the present invention is not limited only tothose embodiments (and examples) described above. Various kinds ofmodifications that occur to those skilled in the art can be applied tothe structures and details of the present invention within the scope ofthe present invention.

This application claims the Priority right based on Japanese PatentApplication No. 2007-181425 filed on Jul. 10, 2007, and the disclosurethereof is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.

Industrial Applicability

The present invention can be applied to a high-security communityservice and data sharing service, which are provided via a communicationnetwork.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram which shows an entire exemplaryembodiment of a communication management system according to the presentinvention;

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing processing steps of communicationadmissible list registering and updating actions executed in thecommunication management system disclosed in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing communication permission judgmentprocessing steps executed in the communication management systemdisclosed in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a schematic block diagram which shows an entire exemplaryembodiment of the communication management system according to thepresent invention;

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing processing steps of communicationadmissible list registering and updating actions executed in thecommunication management system disclosed in FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is a schematic block diagram which shows an entire exemplaryembodiment of the communication management system according to thepresent invention;

FIG. 7A is a flowchart showing processing steps of group member listacquiring actions executed in the communication management systemdisclosed in FIG. 6;

FIG. 7B is a flowchart showing processing steps of group member listgenerating actions executed in the communication management systemdisclosed in FIG. 6;

FIG. 8 is an explanatory illustration showing an example of correlationregarding the communication admissible lists of the communicationmanagement system disclosed in FIG. 6;

FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing processing steps of communication accesscontrol actions executed in the communication management systemdisclosed in FIG. 6;

FIG. 10 is a schematic block diagram which shows an entire exemplaryembodiment of the communication management system according to thepresent invention;

FIG. 11 is a flowchart showing processing steps of communication accesscontrol actions executed in the communication management systemdisclosed in FIG. 10; and

FIG. 12 is a flowchart showing processing steps of actions forgenerating a community member list.

Reference Numerals

10, 20 Communication terminal device

11, 201 Communication device

12, 232 Communication history information memory device

13, 223 Condition information memory device

14, 224 Communication admissible list generating device

15, 225 Communication admissible list memory device

22 Communication admissible list management server

23 Communication control server

34 Shared data management server

44 Community management server

202 Condition information setting device

231 Communication control device

341, 441 Access control device

342 Shared data space

321 Group list searching and acquiring device

442 Community space

443 Community generating and managing device

The invention claimed is:
 1. A communication management system whichmanages talks and communications performed via a communication network,the system comprising: a communication history information memory devicewhich stores history information of the talks and communications by eachtalk and communication partner user; a condition information memorydevice which stores a reliability rule that is a basis for judging areliability relationship of the talks and communications; acommunication admissible list generating device which judges whether ornot the partner user is reliable enough based on the history informationof the talks and communications stored in the communication historyinformation memory device and the reliability rule stored in thecondition information memory device, and generates a list with a validtime limit; and a communication admissible list memory device whichstores the list generated by the communication admissible listgenerating device, and provides the list in response to an inquiry thatis made when performing the talk and communication with the partneruser, wherein the communication admissible list generating devicerevives a deleted list of the user as the target of the talks andcommunications based on an explicit instruction from the user of thetalks and communications.
 2. The communication management system asclaimed in claim 1, wherein the communication admissible list generatingdevice calculates the valid time limit from the history information, andgenerates the list including information of the users as targets of thetalks and communications along with valid time limit informationthereof.
 3. The communication management system as claimed in claim 1,wherein the communication admissible list generating device sets lengthof the valid time limit by comparing the reliability rule stored in thecondition information memory device with the history of the talks andcommunications.
 4. The communication management system as claimed inclaim 2, which uses one of or a combination of two or more itemsselected from a total number of communications, community frequency, andcommunication information capacity as the history information.
 5. Aserver which controls talks and communications of a communicationterminal device which performs the talks and communications via acommunication network, the server comprising: a communication historyinformation memory device which stores history information of the talksand communications by each talk and communication partner user; acondition information memory device which stores a reliability rule thatis a basis for judging a reliability relationship of the talks andcommunications; a communication admissible list generating device whichjudges whether or not the partner user is reliable enough based on thehistory information of the talks and communications stored in thecommunication history information memory device and the reliability rulestored in the condition information memory device, and generates a listwith a valid time limit; a communication admissible list memory devicewhich stores the list generated by the communication admissible listgenerating device, and provides the list in response to an inquiry thatis made when performing the talk and communication with the partneruser; a communication control device which makes an access to thecommunication admissible list memory device to search the list of apartner user with which a talk and a communication is to be performed,judges reliability of the partner user based on a search result thereof,and controls the talk and communication performed by the communicationterminal device; a shared database which stores data shared by theusers; a group list searching and acquiring device which determines theuser to be a start point of search, searches a list of group related tothe user from the lists in the communication admissible list memorydevice, and generates a group member list; and an access control devicewhich receives an access request from the communication terminal deviceto the shared database, and makes a judgment whether or not to permitthe access request based on the group member list of the group listsearching device.
 6. The server as claimed in claim 5, wherein thecondition information memory device receives and stores settinginformation of the reliability rule transmitted from the communicationterminal device.
 7. The server as claimed in claim 5, wherein thecommunication admissible list generating device calculates the validtime limit from the history information, and generates the listincluding information of the users as targets of the talks andcommunications along with valid time limit information thereof.
 8. Theserver as claimed in claim 5, wherein the communication admissible listgenerating device sets length of the valid time limit by comparing thereliability rule stored in the condition information memory device withthe history of the talks and communications.
 9. The server as claimed inclaim 7, which uses one of or a combination of two or more itemsselected from a total number of communications, community frequency, andcommunication information capacity as the history information.
 10. Theserver as claimed in claim 8, which uses one of or a combination of twoor more items selected from a total number of communications, communityfrequency, and communication information capacity as the historyinformation.
 11. A server which controls talks and communications of acommunication terminal device which performs the talks andcommunications via a communication network, the server comprising: acommunication history information memory device which stores historyinformation of the talks and communications by each talk andcommunication partner user; a condition information memory device whichstores a reliability rule that is a basis for judging a reliabilityrelationship of the talks and communications; a communication admissiblelist generating device which judges whether or not the partner user isreliable enough based on the history information of the talks andcommunications stored in the communication history information memorydevice and the reliability rule stored in the condition informationmemory device, and generates a list with a valid time limit; acommunication admissible list memory device which stores the listgenerated by the communication admissible list generating device, andprovides the list in response to an inquiry that is made when performingthe talk and communication with the partner user; a communicationcontrol device which makes an access to the communication admissiblelist memory device to search the list of a partner user with which atalk and a communication is to be performed, judges reliability of thepartner user based on a search result thereof, and controls the talk andcommunication performed by the communication terminal device; acommunity space which stores information that is used in common by theusers; a group list searching and acquiring device which determines theuser to be a start point of search, searches a list of group related tothe user from the lists in the communication admissible list memorydevice, and generates a group member list; a community generating andmanaging device which extracts one user from the group list acquiredfrom the group list searching and acquiring device, and generates acommunity having the user as a member thereof; and an access controldevice which receives an access request from the communication terminaldevice to the community space, and makes a judgment whether or not topermit the access request based on a fact whether or not the user of thecommunication terminal device is the member of the community generatedby the community generating and managing device.
 12. The server asclaimed in claim 11, wherein the condition information memory devicereceives and stores setting information of the reliability ruletransmitted from the communication terminal device.
 13. The server asclaimed in claim 11, wherein the communication admissible listgenerating device calculates the valid time limit from the historyinformation, and generates the list including information of the usersas targets of the talks and communications along with valid time limitinformation thereof.
 14. The server as claimed in claim 11, wherein thecommunication admissible list generating device sets length of the validtime limit by comparing the reliability rule stored in the conditioninformation memory device with the history of the talks andcommunications.
 15. The server as claimed in claim 13, which uses one ofor a combination of two or more items selected from a total number ofcommunications, community frequency, and communication informationcapacity as the history information.
 16. The server as claimed in claim14, which uses one of or a combination of two or more items selectedfrom a total number of communications, community frequency, andcommunication information capacity as the history information.
 17. Anon-transitory computer readable recording medium storing acommunication management program which controls management of talks andcommunications performed via a communication network, the programcausing a computer to execute: a function which manages historyinformation of the talks and communications as a database by eachpartner user of the talks and communications; a function which manages areliability rule as a basis for judging a reliability relationship ofthe talks and communications as a database; a function which judgeswhether or not the partner user is reliable enough based on the historyinformation of the talks and communications and the reliability rule,and generates a list with a valid time limit; and a function whichmanages the list, and provides the list in response to an inquiry thatis made when performing the talk and communication with the partneruser; and in the function which generates the list with the valid timelimit, a function which revives a deleted list of the users as thetargets of the talks and communications based on an explicit instructionfrom the user of the talks and communications.
 18. The non-transitorycomputer readable recording medium storing the communication managementprogram as claimed in claim 17, which causes the computer to execute afunction which calculates the valid time limit from the historyinformation, and generates the list including information of the usersas targets of the talks and communications along with the valid timelimit information thereof.
 19. The non-transitory computer readablerecording medium storing the communication management program as claimedin claim 17, which causes the computer to execute a function which setslength of the valid time limit by comparing the reliability rule withthe history of the talks and communications.
 20. The non-transitorycomputer readable recording medium storing the communication managementprogram as claimed in claim 18, which uses one of or a combination oftwo or more items selected from a total number of communications,community frequency, and communication information capacity as thehistory information.
 21. A non-transitory computer readable recordingmedium storing a program for a communication terminal device whichperforms talks and communications via a communication network, theprogram causing a computer to execute: a function which manages historyinformation of the talks and communications as a database by eachpartner user of the talks and communications; a function which manages areliability rule as a basis for judging a reliability relationship ofthe talks and communications as a database; a function which judgeswhether or not the partner user is reliable enough based on the historyinformation of the talks and communications managed by each of thepartner users of the talks and communications and the reliability rule,and generates a list with a valid time limit; a function which managesthe list, and provides the list in response to an inquiry that is madewhen performing the talk and communication with the partner user; and afunction which searches the list, and controls the talks andcommunications by judging reliability of the partner user based on asearched result; a function which manages data shared by the users as ashared database; a function which determines the user to be a startpoint of search, searches a list of group related to the user from thelists of the communication admissible list memory device, and generatesa group member list; and a function which receives an access requestfrom the communication terminal device to the shared database, and makesa judgment whether or not to permit the access request based on thegroup member list.
 22. The non-transitory computer readable recordingmedium storing the communication terminal device program as claimed inclaim 21, which causes the computer to execute a function whichcalculates the valid time limit from the history information, andgenerates the list including information of the users as targets of thetalks and communications along with the valid time limit informationthereof.
 23. The non-transitory computer readable recording mediumstoring the communication terminal device program as claimed in claim21, which causes the computer to execute a function which sets length ofthe valid time limit by comparing the reliability rule with the historyof the talks and communications.
 24. The non-transitory computerreadable recording medium storing the communication terminal deviceprogram as claimed in claim 22, which uses one of or a combination oftwo or more items selected from a total number of communications,community frequency, and communication information capacity as thehistory information.
 25. The non-transitory computer readable recordingmedium storing the communication terminal device program as claimed inclaim 23, which uses one of or a combination of two or more itemsselected from a total number of communications, community frequency, andcommunication information capacity as the history information.
 26. Anon-transitory computer readable recording medium storing a program fora communication terminal device which performs talks and communicationsvia a communication network, the program causing a computer to execute:a function which manages history information of the talks andcommunications as a database by each partner user of the talks andcommunications; a function which manages a reliability rule as a basisfor judging a reliability relationship of the talks and communicationsas a database; a function which judges whether or not the partner useris reliable enough based on the history information of the talks andcommunications managed by each of the partner users of the talks andcommunications and the reliability rule, and generates a list with avalid time limit; a function which manages the list, and provides thelist in response to an inquiry that is made when performing the talk andcommunication with the partner user; a function which searches the list,and controls the talks and communications by judging reliability of thepartner user based on a searched result; a function which managesinformation used in common by the users as community information; afunction which determines the user to be a start point of search,searches a list of group related to the user from the lists, andgenerates a group member list; a function which extracts one user fromthe group list, and generates a community having the user as the member;and a function which receives an access request from the communicationterminal device to the community information, and makes a judgmentwhether or not to permit the access request based on a fact whether ornot the user of the communication terminal device is the member of thecommunity.
 27. The non-transitory computer readable recording mediumstoring the communication terminal device program as claimed in claim26, which causes the computer to execute a function which calculates thevalid time limit from the history information, and generates the listincluding information of the users as targets of the talks andcommunications along with the valid time limit information thereof. 28.The non-transitory computer readable recording medium storing thecommunication terminal device program as claimed in claim 26, whichcauses the computer to execute a function which sets length of the validtime limit by comparing the reliability rule with the history of thetalks and communications.
 29. The non-transitory computer readablerecording medium storing the communication terminal device program asclaimed in claim 27, which uses one of or a combination of two or moreitems selected from a total number of communications, communityfrequency, and communication information capacity as the historyinformation.
 30. The non-transitory computer readable recording mediumstoring the communication terminal device program as claimed in claim28, which uses one of or a combination of two or more items selectedfrom a total number of communications, community frequency, andcommunication information capacity as the history information.
 31. Acommunication management method which controls management of talks andcommunications performed via a communication network, the methodcomprising: managing history information of the talks and communicationsas a database by each partner user of the talks and communications;managing a reliability rule as a basis for judging a reliabilityrelationship of the talks and communications as a database; judgingwhether or not the partner user is reliable enough based on the historyinformation of the talks and communications and the reliability rule,and generating a list with a valid time limit; managing the list, andproviding the list in response to an inquiry that is made whenperforming the talk and communication with the partner user; and whengenerating the list with the valid time limit, reviving a deleted listof the users as the target of the talks and communications based on anexplicit instruction from the user of the talks and communications. 32.The communication management method as claimed in claim 31, wherein thevalid time limit is calculated from the history information, and thelist is generated including information of the users as targets of thetalks and communications along with valid time limit informationthereof.
 33. The communication management method as claimed in claim 31,wherein length of the valid time limit is set by comparing thereliability rule with the history of the talks and communications. 34.The communication management method as claimed in claim 32, wherein oneof or a combination of two or more items selected from a total number ofcommunications, community frequency, and communication informationcapacity is used as the history information.
 35. A management method ofa server which controls talks and communications performed bycommunication terminal devices via a communication network, the methodcomprising: managing history information of the talks and communicationsby each talk and communication partner user as a database; managing areliability rule that is a basis for judging a reliability relationshipof the talks and communications as a database; judging whether or notthe partner user is reliable enough based on the history information ofthe talks and communications stored by each partner user of the talksand communications and the reliability rule, and generating a list witha valid time limit; managing the list, and providing the list inresponse to an inquiry that is made when performing the talk andcommunication with the partner user; searching the list, judgingreliability of the partner user based on a search result thereof, andcontrolling the talk and communication performed by the communicationterminal device; managing data shared by the users as a shared database;determining the user to be a start point of search, searching a list ofgroup related to the user from the lists of the communication admissiblelist memory device, and generating a group member list; and receiving anaccess request from the communication terminal device to the shareddatabase, and making a judgment whether or not to permit the accessrequest based on the group member list.
 36. The server management methodas claimed in claim 35, wherein the valid time limit is calculated fromthe history information, and the list is generated including informationof the users as targets of the talks and communications along with validtime limit information thereof.
 37. The server management method asclaimed in claim 35, wherein length of the valid time limit is set bycomparing the reliability rule with the history of the talks andcommunications.
 38. The server management method as claimed in claim 35,which uses one of or a combination of two or more items selected from atotal number of communications, community frequency, and communicationinformation capacity as the history information.
 39. A management methodof a server which controls talks and communications performed bycommunication terminal devices via a communication network, the methodcomprising: managing history information of the talks and communicationsby each talk and communication partner user as a database; managing areliability rule that is a basis for judging a reliability relationshipof the talks and communications as a database; judging whether or notthe partner user is reliable enough based on the history information ofthe talks and communications stored by each partner user of the talksand communications and the reliability rule, and generating a list witha valid time limit; managing the list, and providing the list inresponse to an inquiry that is made when performing the talk andcommunication with the partner user; and searching the list, judgingreliability of the partner user based on a search result thereof, andcontrolling the talk and communication performed by the communicationterminal device; managing information used in common by the users ascommunity information; determining the user to be a start point ofsearch, searching a list of group related to the user from the lists,and generating a group member list; extracting one user from the grouplist, and generating a community having the user as the member; andreceiving an access request from the communication terminal device tothe community information, and making a judgment whether or not topermit the access request based on a fact whether or not the user of thecommunication terminal device is the member of the community.
 40. Theserver management method as claimed in claim 39, wherein the valid timelimit is calculated from the history information, and the list isgenerated including information of the users as targets of the talks andcommunications along with valid time limit information thereof.
 41. Theserver management method as claimed in claim 39, wherein length of thevalid time limit is set by comparing the reliability rule with thehistory of the talks and communications.
 42. The server managementmethod as claimed in claim 39, which uses one of or a combination of twoor more items selected from a total number of communications, communityfrequency, and communication information capacity as the historyinformation.
 43. A communication management system which manages talksand communications performed via a communication network, the systemcomprising: communication history information memory means for storinghistory information of the talks and communications by each talk andcommunication partner user; condition information memory means forstoring a reliability rule that is a basis for judging a reliabilityrelationship of the talks and communications; communication admissiblelist generating means for judging whether or not the partner user isreliable enough based on the history information of the talks andcommunications stored in the communication history information memorymeans and the reliability rule stored in the condition informationmemory means, and generating a list with a valid time limit; andcommunication admissible list memory means for storing the listgenerated by the communication admissible list generating means, andproviding the list in response to an inquiry that is made whenperforming the talk and communication with the partner user, wherein thecommunication admissible list generating device revives a deleted listof the user as the target of the talks and communications based on anexplicit instruction from the user of the talks and communications. 44.A server which controls talks and communications of communicationterminal means for performing the talks and communications via acommunication network, the server comprising: communication historyinformation memory means for storing history information of the talksand communications by each talk and communication partner user;condition information memory means for storing a reliability rule thatis a basis for judging a reliability relationship of the talks andcommunications; communication admissible list generating means forjudging whether or not the partner user is reliable enough based on thehistory information of the talks and communications stored in thecommunication history information memory means and the reliability rulestored in the condition information memory means, and generating a listwith a valid time limit; communication admissible list memory means forstoring the list generated by the communication admissible listgenerating means, and providing the list in response to an inquiry thatis made when performing the talk and communication with the partneruser; communication control means for making an access to thecommunication admissible list memory means to search the list of apartner user with which a talk and a communication is to be performed,judging reliability of the partner user based on a search resultthereof, and controlling the talk and communication performed by thecommunication terminal means; a shared database which stores data sharedby the users; a group list searching and acquiring means for determiningthe user to be a start point of search, searches a list of group relatedto the user from the lists in the communication admissible list memorydevice, and generates a group member list; and access control means forreceiving an access request from the communication terminal means to theshared database, and making a judgment whether or not to permit theaccess request based on the group member list of the group listsearching means.